A popular form of deck construction for buildings, for example residential houses, involves surface materials formed of various composites which simulate the appearance of a finished wooden deck without requiring painting or other on-going maintenance. Current decking systems of this configuration however generally require conventional wood construction joists and beams and the subsequent awkward manipulation of various mounting clips, nails, screws and the like to secure the deck surface to the joists and beams below.
The following US patents relate generally to various forms of decks and other similar structures. U.S. Pat. No. 5,101,737 belonging to Gomez; U.S. Pat. No. 5,417,167 belonging to Sadr; U.S. Pat. No. 4,019,298 belonging to Johnson, IV; U.S. Pat. No. 6,314,699 belonging to West; U.S. Pat. No. 6,802,267 belonging to Janus; U.S. Pat. No. 5,950,377 belonging to Yoder; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,914,913 belonging to Roberts.
None of the prior art discloses an overall deck system in which all of the components can be manufactured of maintenance free materials and which can be readily assembled without the use of complex or awkward mounting clips and the like which can be very labor intensive.